


You Come Back To What You Need

by Dreamformetoo



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And he loves Bucky more than anything, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Awesome Peggy Carter, Fix-It, M/M, Steve is a good man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-02-23 21:15:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18710107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamformetoo/pseuds/Dreamformetoo
Summary: I fix some things. Steve Rogers does too.What we see is not always the whole story. This is the part we didn't get.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It kind of felt like I had to write this. It's a fix-it fic in the sense that I took what we saw, and imagined that it was all a part of Steve's Grand Plan to have a happy, long life with Bucky. Because it was, right?
> 
> Title from This Love by Taylor Swift, because that's a Stucky song if I've ever heard one.

When Bruce explains why they need to return the stones to their places in the past, Steve knows it has to be him. With Tony and Natasha gone, Steve is holding what’s left of the Avengers together and he knows that having already been to three of the stones’ timelines will help. 

He doesn’t want to, initially. It’s just another mission to complete. Go back to the past. Return the stones. Come back to reassemble the pieces of the present. 

Bruce sets a date for a week from the battle and Steve moves on to the thousands of other things on his to do list. He misses Natasha so much it aches. 

But he has Sam back. And Bucky. 

God, he still can’t believe that Bucky’s back. He’s back and unharmed, like nothing happened. Like he wasn’t fucking erased from the universe, pulled away from Steve for the thousandth time.

“Hey, Steve,” Bucky calls from the kitchen. 

Steve is going through Natasha’s desk, hoping to find some file that she’d borrowed from Secretary Ross that apparently had no goddamn copy.

“Yeah?” Steve replies, deciding to just give up for the moment. Natasha was not in her most organized mind during those last weeks and he thinks Ross can wait a few more days. 

“Remember how you fought your past self and used me as a way to distract him?”

Steve leans against the counter, watching Bucky slice a tomato with the precision of a five star chef. 

“Yeah, I definitely remember that,” Steve replies. 

“Do you think he believed you? I mean, do you think in that universe he’s gonna find the Winter Soldier sooner?”

And just like that, Steve sees his return trip to the past as a gift, not a burden. 

“I just…” Bucky continues. “I just imagine them finding each other years before we did, maybe having some time to figure themselves out and actually rest. God knows they deserve it.”

Steve reaches out to push his fingers through Bucky’s hair. 

“We deserve it too, Buck.”

“Right, well. I don’t see that happening any time soon, pal.”

XXX

As the next few days pass, Bruce creates the plan for Steve’s mission and Steve reconstructs it in his mind. Or adds to it, really. He writes none of it down, afraid that Bucky or Sam would find it somehow. 

Still, he can tell that Bucky knows that something’s going on. 

The night before Steve is set to go, Bucky keeps him awake with lingering touches and deep kisses. It’s as if he doesn’t expect Steve to come back or something. 

“Hey, Buck,” Steve whispers against Bucky’s neck as they lay together in bed. “You know it’s going to be fine right? It’s not gonna be dangerous. I’m going to be alright.”

Bucky clears his throat but nods. 

“I know. You’ll be fine.” 

Steve squeezes Bucky’s hand and places a kiss on Bucky’s collarbone. 

“ _ We’ll  _ be fine.”

XXX

Sam meets them just before they head out to the lake. 

“I still can’t believe you guys pulled off time travel,” he says as they follow Bruce to the site he’s set up. “And I  _ really  _ can’t believe that it was all Lang’s idea.” 

Steve grins. 

“Yeah, well, Tony’s the one that got it right in the end.” 

They walk in silence until they approach the machine, where Sam of course offers to come (Steve has a sinking suspicion that time travel is now on his bucket list) and Bucky is calm and a bit too collected for Steve’s nerves. Steve knows that his plan is going to work and that he’s doing the right thing, but he also knows that Bucky will never stop worrying that things might go wrong. That he and Bucky could be pulled apart yet again.

He does his best to reassure Bucky without giving anything away. 

“Don’t do anything stupid until I get back.”

“How can I?” Bucky smirks. “You’re taking all the stupid with you.” 

He can tell by the way that Bucky holds on too tightly when they hug that he’s still worried. Steve swallows down his comments. He’s doing what’s best for them both. 

And then Steve’s up on the platform, hammer in hand and ready to go. He takes a deep breath as Bruce counts down and suddenly he’s back in the Quantum Realm, ready to reverse change and create some of it, too. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the lovely response, so far! Here we get Peggy and the beginning of Steve's adventure in the past.

Replacing the stones in their original times is a lot harder than Steve had prepared for. He’d paid plenty of attention to Bruce’s instructions, even taken notes, but Steve has to admit that he’d been a little more focused on his own plan. Still, despite some hiccups in Asgard and Morag, he finishes the job. He’d spent a while on Vormir after throwing the soul stone off of the cliff interrogating Red Skull (which had been a terrifying surprise in and of itself) and then waiting to see if somehow Natasha would come back now that the stone was returned. She didn’t. 

After what feels like ages of hopping across times and universes, Steve is finally finished. For a moment he wonders if he should just go back home, go back to Bucky and the team and just forget about his pipe dream of a plan. But no. He thinks of Bucky as the Winter Soldier, beaten and brainwashed and kept frozen in a tube while Steve had been defrosted and reacclimated to the world. 

No, he has to go. It’s what Bucky deserves, in any universe. 

Finished with the stones and the hammer, Steve sets his Time GPS to 1949. It’s too late to save Bucky from being found by the Russians, but the Winter Soldier’s file doesn’t start recording his location until that year, when SHIELD was officially founded. 

Steve takes a breath before activating the device. He’s hit by the enormity of what he’s about to do. Changing the realities for his past self and Bucky is something he never would have imagined just a year ago, but here he is, given the chance to give them something he’ll never have. A small, selfish part of him wonders what would happen if he stayed in 1949 after rescuing Bucky, getting to spend more years together. He couldn’t imagine leaving his Bucky behind though. The Bucky he’s saved and who’s saved him. The Bucky he loves more than anything. 

He activates the Time GPS and flies through the Quantum Realm, popping back into existence on a suburban street in New York, 1949. His Quantum suit clicks off and reveals the plain shirt and slacks he’d worn just for this.

There are kids riding their bikes down the street, men carrying suitcases to their cars, birds flying overhead and the faint, everpresent sound of New York traffic. Steve breathes in and something in him aches.

It’s not just being in his natural timeline that gets him emotional; it’s the  _ life.  _ Coming from a place where the past five years had been devoid of life and hope, this busyness around him is a literal breath of fresh air. 

He did his research before coming, so he knows the yellow house down the street is Peggy’s. Peggy and her husband (or at this time, her fiancé). He knows he’s not here to steal Peggy away, but he does feel somewhat uncomfortable with disrupting what he knows is the beginning of a beautiful life together. 

Still. He can’t do this alone and Peggy is the most resourceful person he’s ever known. Plus, he has a promise to fulfill.

Steve approaches the house cautiously, nervous that she’s going to see him from the window and come out with a gun in hand. He’d really rather not get shot in a time when he’s meant to be presumed dead. 

He rings the doorbell and waits, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. He hasn’t been this nervous in ages, and he’s flown in an honest to God spaceship. 

He hears footsteps approaching and braces himself, not knowing exactly what to expect. Disbelief? Anger? Confusion? 

Peggy opens the door and his first thought is that she’s just as remarkable as he remembers. There’s an energy to her that he was addicted to at one point, something strong and bright and completely original. She naturally radiates the kind of power that had been given to him in a tube.

Steve sees Peggy calculating the situation, her hand gripping the door tightly. 

“Peggy, it’s me,” Steve says. 

Her eyes narrow and her mouth pinches.

“You’re late.”

Steve just stares at her. What’s happening?

“Come in, quickly, before anyone sees you,” Peggy says, pulling the door open wider. 

Steve steps inside and glances casually around the front room. There’s a sofa, some chairs, a radio in the corner. Nothing surprising, not even the framed picture of Peggy and her fiancé on the mantle. 

Peggy closes and locks the door before gesturing for Steve to sit. He does and she joins him on the sofa, hands clasped in her lap. 

“What year were you born?” she asks him, eyes intently focused on his face.

“1918,” he answers. Steve feels himself relax, slightly. This suspicion is closer to what he’d expected.

“And your mother’s name was?” 

“Sarah Rogers.”

“What was the full name of your closest friend?”

“James Buchanan Barnes.”

“And what were you drawing when we reconnected with the 107th?”

Steve grins, “A monkey on a tightrope. Me.”

Peggy sighs and leans back, her hands relaxing. 

“I’m sorry, Steve, but you wouldn’t believe the amount of impersonators that I’ve dealt with.”

“I can imagine,” Steve jokes.

Peggy smiles and something in her expression turns sad. She reaches out and brushes her fingertips against his cheekbone. 

“It’s really you,” she whispers. 

He reaches up to hold her hand to his face.

“It’s me, Pegs.”

Peggy’s eyes close and she pushes her lips together. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, voice low. “I knew you would come and yet I still can’t believe it.”

“How did you know I was coming?” Steve asks. “I was prepared to defend myself a lot more.”

Peggy opens her eyes and pulls her hand back to wipe at the tears escaping from them. 

“You’re not the first person from the future to visit me, Steve. And this other person told me to expect you sometime this year.” 

“Wh-”

Peggy puts a hand up. “I can’t tell you. I promised. And I believe you’ll hear the story from them someday.”

Steve’s getting tired of secrets and secret keepers, but he knows better than to argue by now. 

“So you know why I’m here, then?”

Peggy shakes her head. “Not exactly. All I know is that somehow you’re alive and that you’re going to need my help.” She chuckles. “Believe me, I’m only this calm because of the warning I received. I was a mess for months after learning you were alive and somehow living in the two  _ thousands.”  _

Steve rubs at the back of his head. “Yeah, I’ve gotten used to it.”

“I can see that,” Peggy says. She grabs his hand. “You look well, darling.”

It’s that word. Darling. No one’s called him that in decades. She’s the only one that did. 

Steve feels himself tearing up but makes no effort to hide it. Where in the future, his friends expect him to be strong enough for everyone, Peggy and Bucky always knew that he isn’t as strong inside as he is on the outside. 

“Oh, Steve,” Peggy says, curling an arm around his shoulders and pulling him closer. 

It’s the smell of her perfume that does him in. His quiet tears turn into weeping sobs into her shoulder, Peggy’s hand smoothing down his hair. 

“I’ve missed you every day,” she says and he nods. 

“Me too. I’ve missed you too.”

Peggy pulls back from him and he wipes his eyes, sniffling. 

“But life has moved on,” she smiles ruefully. “And so have we.”

Steve takes a deep breath to collect himself. He didn’t come here to wallow in the past. 

“You’re right,” he replies. “I came here for your help.”

“Well, then. Tell me everything, and we’ll see what I can do."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated! Come find me at dreamformetoo on tumblr and twitter!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’s a lot of Peggy here (because I love Peggy and she and Steve deserve to have their Moment) but don’t worry, Bucky is coming in the next chapter!

Steve doesn’t tell her everything. 

Peggy knows about time travel, so there’s not much to hide there, but Steve thinks that hearing about an army of aliens erasing half of the population would be a bit much.

He tells her about the stones, how they needed time travel to get them, and how he’d had the job of returning them. How he wants to save himself and Bucky too. 

Honestly, she took Bucky becoming the Winter Soldier the hardest.

“He didn’t- My other visitor didn’t mention that part. Arnim Zola, that bastard,” she bites out. “I  _ told  _ Howard that we shouldn’t trust him. He’s at our new headquarters now!” 

“I know,” Steve grimaces. “This is the year where Bucky starts being used by Hydra. We’ve got to get him.”

“We will. We absolutely will.”

Peggy puts a fist to her forehead and breathes slowly. 

“So, that’s the plan?” she asks. “Rescue Barnes, dig yourself out of the ice, and you’ll go back to your life in the future?” 

When she says it like that, it sounds incredibly selfish, especially considering what he and Peggy have gone through. 

“Yes. I’m sorry Peggy, you know that I’d...well. It’s like you said. We’ve both moved on.”

She lowers her hand and looks him in the eye. 

“And I meant it. It’s all just a lot of information, I suppose. We’re going to need to do some reconnaissance and have an airtight plan, Steve. It won’t be easy.”

“If I thought it’d be easy, I wouldn’t be asking you for help.”

Peggy rolls her eyes. 

“Oh, hush. Now. Let me show you to the guest room, you’re going to need to rest. And consider yourself lucky that Daniel is off filming. I don’t think he’d take seeing you as calmly as I did.”

XXX

The plan comes together quickly. 

They’d always strategized best with each other, and what information Peggy lacks, Steve fills in. They spend a whole day at Peggy’s dining room table, scouring through files and blueprints until they can’t see straight anymore. When Steve asks if people will be suspicious that Peggy’s not at work, she smirks and says she got people to cover for her. 

“I haven’t become tied down to a desk yet, Steve.”

The next morning, Peggy leaves to gather weapons and more information. 

Steve promises to stay in the house. They didn’t want anyone recognizing him and causing a panic. He had only been in the ice for four years in this time, after all. 

While she’s gone, Steve takes time to relax in this era of his home. He listens to the radio, reads the entire newspaper, goes over their plan too many times, and when Peggy gets back with a duffel bag full of artillery, he’s just putting on a record that he’d lost in his DC apartment.

Peggy drops her duffel by the sofa and stands with her hands on her hips. 

“Is this what you’ve been doing all day, Rogers? Going through my things?”

Steve is suddenly hit with a memory of Natasha saying something similar. “Is this all you’re going to do today, Rogers? Watch Star Wars and eat hot pockets?”

He winces at the memory and shrugs.

“You know it’s alright to relax, don’t you?” Peggy says, coming closer. 

“I know,” Steve replies seriously. “Just haven’t had the time in a while.”

“Well then, it’s good that I’m here to make you. Come on,” she says, holding out a hand. “You do owe me a dance, after all.”

Steve grabs her hand.

“I’m only 80 years late,” he jokes. 

Peggy shakes her head, “Only four years for me.”

“Ah, that’s right. At least I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

The song changes and Steve pulls Peggy close, swaying to the rhythm. 

He’s thought about this moment for years. What it would be like to have this chance. To have survived the crash, or to not have crashed at all, and come home to Peggy. 

How different his life could have been. Should have been, depending on who you ask. Steve rests his head on Peggy’s, her hand squeezing his. 

The Steve of twelve years ago would be living his dream here. Fresh out of the ice, with everyone he knew gone, that Steve thought of little else. 

But now, with his arms around Peggy, a romantic song playing, Steve feels like he’s in someone else’s dream. He hears the song coming to a close and feels that a door is closing in his life, as well. 

Pulling his head back, Steve glances down at Peggy, her eyes soft as she looks at him. Really  _ looks  _ at him. She’s always known him too well. 

They both lean forward in some sort of unspoken agreement, knowing that something between them is officially ending. Their mouths meet and Steve feels like weeping. He wishes he could have it all. This, a lovely, normal life with Peggy, and the future with his friends and family, the life he finally got to create on his own. 

The song ends and they both pull back, tears in their eyes. 

Peggy scoffs and wipes at her eyes. 

“God, Steve. I’ve cried more in the past two days than I have in months, thanks to you.”

Steve grins with wet eyes. “What can I say? I have that effect on people.” 

She glares at him. “Well, stop it. We’ve got work to do.” 


	4. Chapter 4

Steve doesn’t know what to wear. 

It’s the morning of their plan to free Bucky, and while Steve and Peggy had planned everything perfectly, he hadn’t thought about which uniform to wear. 

Thanks to Scott’s Pym technology, Steve had been able to pack a bag and keep it in his pocket to resize. He’d brought all of his Captain America uniforms and now he realizes that they should have thought of this. 

Back with the Triskelion, he’d worn his original suit with the hope of getting Bucky to recognize him. Now though, would it be too noticeable while they snuck into Zola’s secret lab? If anyone saw him, that would make it a lot harder for his Past Self when they got him out of the ice. 

He could wear the stealth suit and hope that this Bucky hasn’t lost all of his memory yet. He could wear his Avengers uniform, just for practicality. 

There’s a knock at the door and Peggy pokes her head in. She’s got her hair pulled back and a dark jumpsuit on.

“You’re not dressed yet? We’ve got to leave at 5:00 AM precisely, Steve.”

Steve groans. “I know, I just...what do you think?”

He gestures to his plethora of suits. 

She looks seriously down at them all and Steve realizes is must be a shock to see how many designs Steve has gone through, how many phases of life he’s had in his past twelve years. 

“That one, of course.”

She’s pointing at his original suit. 

He knew it. 

XXX

Once Peggy knew about Zola’s ties to the new Hydra, she’d been able to quickly work out where he must be keeping his new lab. 

They were still in the process of converting Camp Lehigh to SHIELD headquarters, and Zola had been given an office five miles north with a few of the other scientists. Looking at the blueprints, Peggy had seen that underneath the office building was a set of tunnels. Tunnels perfect for a secret Hydra operation. 

Sitting at the tree line, watching the building, Peggy shakes her head. 

“How could we let this happen? It’s so obvious now that I know. But I guess the point is that I  _ didn’t  _ know.”

“We’re here now,” Steve reassures her. He straps his helmet on and grins at her. “Couldn’t do it without you.”

She rolls her eyes and stands. 

“Let’s go. Now remember, don’t say a word to anyone if they see you. Got it?”

“Got it,” Steve nods. 

He feels his heart beating quickly, the way it always does before a mission, and wonders if he’ll ever get used to the adrenaline. He figures that if he hasn’t by now, he never will. Which is why he’s doing this. To spare himself and Bucky that life. To give them a fighting chance. 

He and Peggy sneak into the tunnels towards the back of the building. Luckily there isn’t a lot of security above ground, but they don’t know what to expect from this rebuilt Hydra. 

Under the scientist's labs are concrete tunnels that connect different chambers and stairwells. 

Peggy had determined the largest chamber from the blueprint to be the one most likely to be Zola’s and Steve had agreed. Zola was a selfish man.

They run into only two guards along the way and one smack in the head from his shield is enough to knock them out. Steve and Peggy drag them into a supply closet and tie them together. 

Honestly, this is nowhere near as bad as Steve thought it would be. Steve can hear Tony in his mind, “These were simpler times, Cap. Don’t get too cocky.”

But of course, it’s never easy. 

They find Zola’s lab empty, besides Bucky. 

He’s in a cryotube, iced over with a blue tint. 

He looks how Steve imagines his past self does right now. Cold.

“Dear Lord,” Peggy says from behind him. She’s looking at the equipment in the lab with horror. 

The tools here are almost all the same as the ones Steve has seen in the future. He feels like punching a wall. 

Instead, he approaches Bucky. 

There’s a thick layer of glass separating them, but Steve gets as close as he can. 

This Bucky has shorter hair. It barely reaches his chin and Steve scowls. He presses a fist to the glass and presses until his knuckles crack.

“Steve, we need to figure out how to get him out of there. Quickly. I’m sure this lab won’t be empty for long.”

Steve lets out a breath and nods. 

“Getting him out of the machine won’t be hard,” Steve says. “We just need to be prepared for his mental state. I’m not sure how far they’ve gotten in...in the brainwashing.” 

“Right,” Peggy says. She pulls a file off of an exam table and flips through it. “It doesn’t seem to be as bad as what you’ve told me. It looks like he’s still himself, just with some sort of...mind numbing. It says that he’s been fairly uncooperative since being moved here…”

Steve moves over to look at the file over Peggy’s shoulder. He’s grateful that it’s nowhere near as thick as the Winter Soldier file from the future. 

“Let’s just release him then, and hope for the best,” Steve decides. 

He goes back to the cryotube and presses the release button. Peggy stays back while Bucky’s restraints click open, while a rush of gas fills the chamber before the glass pulls off and up. 

Steve feels a chill from the gas escaping and as the fog dissipates, he hears a strangled gasp. 

Without thinking he’s next to Bucky, hands reaching out to help him step out of the machine. 

Bucky’s gasping, chest heaving and metal arm whirring. His eyes are wide as they take in the room, finally landing on Steve’s face.

“Steve?”

Steve didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until now. 

“Buck? Are you alright?”

Bucky’s face crumples and he pulls Steve close, burying his face in Steve’s neck. 

“God Dammit Steve, they told me you were dead. How are you...How did you find me?”

“It’s a long story, pal. But we’ve got to get you out of here.”

Peggy steps forward, “Steve, I’m taking the file, but is there anything else here that we need?”

Bucky pushes away from Steve, spinning towards Peggy with a cold expression. 

He stares at her for a moment, assessing the situation. Finally, his blank expression cracks and he looks back at Steve.

“Peggy Carter, too? Jesus Christ, this  _ is  _ a long story, isn’t it?”

Steve grins. This is the scenario he hadn’t let himself believe would be possible. That Bucky would remember them. That this could actually work. Steve feels himself start to believe that this ridiculous plan of his is actually going to succeed. 

Then the alarms go off.


	5. Chapter 5

Bucky may have just been released from the cryotube, but his reflexes are still extremely sharp. As Steve, Peggy, and Bucky make their way out of the Hydra laboratories, Bucky is smashing heads and punching through doors like he’s been awake and fighting this whole time. In a way, Steve guesses that he actually has.

Peggy leads them towards the exit and takes out the many guards that have suddenly appeared at the front. Bucky follows, dispatching any guards that appear in doorways or from around corners as they go. Steve is last, jogging backwards with his shield up to protect the most important people in his life from the shots being fired their way. He’s not going to have come this far to fail now. 

Finally, Peggy shoves through the door to their escape. Steve throws his shield down the long hallway, knocking the remaining few guards to the ground. He catches the shield when it bounces back to him, hurrying outside after Peggy and Bucky.

Peggy’s already past the tree line, starting the car. Bucky’s stopped just before the trees. He’s looking up and around, eyes wide and soft.

“Hey, Buck, let’s go,” Steve tells him when he approaches. He tugs on Bucky’s arm to pull him towards the car. 

Bucky shakes his head and allows Steve to lead him to the backseat of Peggy’s SHIELD issued car. 

“Sorry, I just haven’t been outside in a long time. Or, at least I don’t remember if I have.”

Bucky’s forehead wrinkles as he thinks and Steve clenches his jaw as he slides into the backseat next to him.

“Steve,” Peggy says. The car starts moving and Steve looks up to meet her eyes in the rearview mirror. “It’s going to be alright.”

XXX

Peggy decided it’d be best if she showed an appearance at work later that day. 

“Best to just keep all suspicions at bay,” she’d told Steve. “Besides, I think you’ve got it all handled here.”

Does he, though?

Bucky’s sitting on Peggy’s couch, eating the eggs Steve had made for him straight out of the pan. He’s got his chin-length hair tucked behind his ears and his legs crossed underneath him. He’s wearing one of Steve’s plain t-shirts from the future and hasn’t even questioned why it’s so soft. He looks so young.

Steve closes his eyes for a moment, leaning against the stove.

He thinks of Bucky.  _ His  _ Bucky. The one waiting in the future for him with longer hair and a bigger chip on his shoulder. The one he loves.

It’s not that he doesn’t love this Bucky, too. Hell, he’d probably love all versions of James Buchanan Barnes that are apparently out there. But those Bucky’s have got their own Steves.

He feels a bit like a shattered piece of glass. Jagged and broken, but with sides that fit perfectly with others.

He’d found those pieces in his friends from the past and future. He’d got the final piece back when Bucky’d turned up that day in D.C. 

So no, he doesn’t love this Bucky like he does his own. This one’s got his own missing piece waiting for him, frozen in the Arctic Ocean. He just doesn’t know it yet.

“Hey, Steve,” Bucky calls.

Steve opens his eyes and goes to sit beside Bucky. 

“So, when are you going to tell me the story?”

“What do you mean?”

Bucky rolls his eyes and puts his now empty pan on the coffee table. 

“You know, when I first woke up I was just really glad to see you. And I still am.”

Steve grins and rests his hand next to Bucky’s on the cushion between them. 

“But,” Bucky continues. “You may act like the Steve I know, but you look older. And you carry yourself...differently.”

Steve feels himself start to frown and sighs. He moves to pull his hand away but Bucky reaches out and holds it tight between his metal and human hands. 

“Steve. I’ve seen a lot of shit in the past few years. I’ve...I’ve suffered a lot. And I don’t...I know I’m not the same. But I’ve thought of you every day that I can remember. No matter what’s happened to you, we can get through it. You’re still my person, Stevie.”

When Bucky tilts his head up to Steve’s, Steve can’t resist. He knows that this moment isn’t meant for him, but he’s sure his heart has never prepared for a moment like this. He’s never had to turn Bucky away.

Their mouths meet and Bucky pulls a hand away from holding Steve’s only to move it to the back of Steve’s neck, holding them together. Steve lets Bucky lead, thinking of what he would have given to have had this life. 

But he doesn’t. So when Bucky groans, shifting up on his knees to pull them closer together, Steve pulls away. 

“Buck,” Steve whispers. Bucky nips at his jawline, moving towards his neck.

“Mhmm,” he mumbles into the spot behind Steve’s ear that drives him crazy.

Okay, this has to stop.

Steve pushes Bucky away, watching as his eyes blink in confusion.

“Bucky, I need to tell you something. You were right. There is a story, but I...I’m not sure how you’ll take it.”

Bucky leans back, hand trailing away from Steve reluctantly. 

“Pal, I’m just glad you’re alive,” Bucky says. “Still not over it actually, so whatever you have to say, I promise I’ll be okay.”

Steve takes a deep breath.

“Okay, well. I am alive. And I am Steve Rogers. I’m just not...the Steve Rogers that you know.”

Bucky nods, “You’re right. A lot has changed, Steve. For both of us.”

“No,” Steve frowns. “No, that’s not what I mean. I mean that...that I’m from another universe. A universe where right now I’m frozen in the Arctic Ocean after crashing a plane, and you’re used by Hydra for the next seventy years.”

Bucky narrows his eyes and shakes his head.

“That isn’t fucking funny, Steve.”

“I know! It’s not funny at all, believe me, I know. But it’s the truth.” Steve swallows nervously but keeps his eyes trained on Bucky’s. “That’s why I look older. I’m from the year 2023. I...time traveled back to this time to rescue you.”

Bucky jumps up from the couch. Something in his metal arm clicks and Steve rushes to stand.

“It’s true, Buck. You know I would never-”

“That’s bullshit.” Bucky laughs and runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck, I thought I was done with this but this has to be another test. Goddamnit. And I  _ kissed _ you.”

Bucky’s voice cracks and Steve feels his heart start pounding with that adrenaline that he’d been hoping to escape.

“Bucky, it’s alright. Believe me, it’s just me. I’m still Steve.”

“Fuck, I have to get out of here. I’m-I have to-”

Bucky starts towards the front door, fists clenched.

“Shit,” Steve says under his breath. He can’t let Bucky leave. Not when they still had another half of the plan to get through. Not when the Past Steve is still out there.

Bucky’s reaching for the door handle, and Steve panics. He can’t let him leave. He can’t.

“Hey!” Steve yells. It’s loud enough that Bucky turns towards him, eyes wide.

Steve takes the momentary vulnerability as a gift. This Bucky hasn’t been fully brainwashed yet. He also hasn’t been fully trained.

“Leave me the fuck alone, you-”

Steve lunges forward and punches him, square in the jaw. Bucky falls back into the door, head banging against the wall beside it. He lies still, body lax and unconscious. 

Steve watches him breathe and puts his hands to his waist.

“Well, shit.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a bit of the calm before the storm! The storm being, of course, how are these three going to get Steve Rogers out of the Arctic? Just wait and see...

Steve has Bucky tucked into the guest bed when Peggy gets back.

She’s leaning against the doorway, fist pressed to her forehead.

“Steve, this is not good.”

“I know.”

“You were supposed to wait for me to talk to him! I’m the one who’s had to deal with this conversation before.”

Steve rubs at the back of his neck, looking down at Bucky.

“I know, I know. He just...well, it just happened.”

“Mhmm. It just happened. Well, now we’ve got to deal with this. You said he was starting to think this was some sort of Hydra test?”

Steve nods.

“Yeah, he was pretty upse-”

Bucky groans softly, legs moving under the sheets.

Steve freezes and looks up at Peggy, glad to see her expression harden. She’s got a plan.

“Leave this to me, Steve.”

He frowns at her, but moves towards the doorway while she steps forward towards Bucky.

“I’ll be right outside the door.”

“No. Go to the couch. Just relax.” 

She gives him a rueful smile.

“I can handle this, don’t worry.”

Bucky turns in the bed and Steve nods his assent, closing the door behind him. He turns right towards the front room, but doesn’t make it out of the hallway. Instead, he gets to the corner and slides down, leaning against the bathroom door. 

Steve stretches his legs out, feet almost reaching the other wall, and waits.

XXX

They’re in the room for a long time.

Long enough that Steve starts getting hungry.

He thinks about getting up to grab some cereal or something, but just as he decides that he can do it and be back really quickly, the bedroom door opens.

Steve scrambles to stand up while Bucky and Peggy step out of the room with red-rimmed eyes.

Bucky approaches him hesitantly. Steve glances at Peggy and she nods before pushing past him towards the front of the house. 

“Buck, I-”

Bucky pulls Steve closer by the front of his shirt, moving to wrap his arms around Steve’s shoulders. He’s letting out small, choked off gasps and pushes his face into Steve’s shoulder. Bucky’s clutching at him almost too tightly, but Steve doesn’t care. Not even a little bit. 

Steve tucks his face into Bucky’s neck and breathes out slowly, feeling his body relax for the first time in days.

“Bucky, I’m sorry.”

Bucky shakes his head and pulls back to look at Steve’s face.

“No. Don’t be sorry about any of it, Steve. You’ve got nothing to apologize for.”

XXX

The three of them spend the rest of the day on Peggy’s couch.

They talk about the memories they share and those they don’t. They tell stories about missions that went terribly wrong and the new friends and enemies they’ve made since then. 

Steve remembers when he’d reunited with his Peggy, the Peggy who’d lived her life without him. He remembers they had conversations like this, too. Though those ones were shorter and circled around the same few topics, he’d felt lighter after each one.

With Bucky, they hadn’t sat and talked through everything like Steve does now with this Past Bucky. His Bucky isn’t one who could unload everything at once, not anymore. Their deep conversations and confessions usually happen unexpectedly and often, after dark.

He’d spent hours with Bucky sitting under the Wakandan night sky, holding hands and whispering their secrets to each other where no one else could hear. Each secret revealed, nightmare described, dream confessed, was like space cleared off a shelf. Steve’s spent so many years desperate to protect his old memories, he used to be afraid that he’d run out of room to make more.

Natasha had helped with that. Before Bucky came back into his life, she’d been there to talk to and share those memories with. Of course, it wasn’t the same, but it was something. 

Every one of those conversations, the ones with Natasha, Peggy, Sam, and Bucky, had shown him that he didn’t have to treasure his memories like pieces of art behind glass. He could let some go and he was capable of making more. 

Now, not even in his own timeline, he feels himself letting more of that weight go than ever before. Steve knows he can’t tell these two everything, but he feels that even if he did, they’d understand. He only wishes his own Bucky could be here too.

Steve knows that he can go back to his time whenever he wants, thanks to the Pym particles, but sitting here, talking about the Steve that this Bucky and this Peggy love and miss so much, he knows he has just one more job to do.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, everyone! This is a shorter chapter than usual, but I promise we are getting close to everyone reuniting!

The second part of Steve’s mission is a lot harder to plan than the first.

To rescue Bucky, they’d had Peggy’s resources at SHIELD, a close location, and a relatively easy break out to plan. All in all, it was one of Steve’s simpler missions, just with much higher stakes. 

To rescue his past self, however, it required more than just three people and a getaway car. Especially as his past self was currently buried under ice in the Arctic ocean. It’d only been four years in this timeline, but from the little he remembers of the crash, the plane had definitely sunk far under the water. 

Peggy’s idea is to bring more people in.

“No,” Bucky says, before she can even say who she’s thinking of. “We can’t risk anyone else knowing that Steve, our Steve, is alive. Or either of them, actually! God, who would even believe us? No, the only people that I trust are in this room.”

Steve has to agree with him on that. He was already creating a new timeline, he didn’t want to do anything to mess up the life that his past self and Bucky could have here.

“How do you suppose we do this then, with just the three of us?” Peggy asks, gesturing to the maps and scraps of paper they have spread out on her dining room table. 

Bucky stares down at their meager attempt to strategize. He pushes his metal hand through his hair, tugging it away from his face. Steve’s seen that action enough in the future to know what’s coming next.

Bucky sighs and puts his head in his hands.

“Fine. Who do you want to bring in?”

Peggy taps her nails against the table.

“I’ve got two people in mind.”

XXX

They meet Howard Stark and Edwin Jarvis two days later.

Reuniting with Howard is different from how Steve had anticipated.

He knows Tony so much better than Howard after all this time. Well, he  _ knew _ Tony better. It’s past tense now, he keeps forgetting. Steve’s got to get better at losing people.

They meet at one of Howard’s cabins up north and when Steve steps out of Peggy’s car, he’s surprised to see Howard crying. Peggy had warned him that Howard had taken his presumed death hard, but Steve hadn’t been prepared for this kind of welcome.

“Howard,” he says, stepping forward to pull him into a hug. Steve doesn’t know how he’s so lucky to get the chance to see so many friends again, but he’s not going to take it for granted. “It’s good to see you.”

Howard holds him tightly, his face calm but for the tears escaping his eyes.

“Rogers,” Howard replies, pulling back. “It’s been too long.”

Steve smirks, “A lot longer for me, than for you.”

Howard laughs, wiping at his eyes. “I guess that’s true! Wow. Who would’ve thought...someone in the future’s bright enough to invent time travel. And here, I thought it was going to be me!”

Steve’s smile slips, but he holds back everything he wants to say. He’s not here to ruin anyone’s future. 

“Director Carter!”

Howard smiles at Peggy, who’s been greeting Jarvis. Steve winces at the name and decides to call him Edwin. 

This is a lot harder than he’d thought, already.

“Captain Rogers,” Edwin says, holding a hand out. “Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Steve takes his hand with a nod, “Same to you.”

“Where’s Sergeant Barnes, eh?” Howard asks, looking over to Peggy’s car. 

Bucky approaches from around the building, hair tucked back behind his ears.

“Scouting the perimeter,” Bucky replies with a shrug. “Can never be too sure these days, especially knowing where I’ve been these last few years.”

Howard winces and reaches out to shake Bucky’s hand, not even trying to avoid staring at the metal arm.

“You know how this thing works?” he asks Bucky, twisting his arm around before Bucky pulls it away.

“No, I didn’t really get the handbook when they stuck it on me.”

There’s a moment of tense silence before Howard laughs and throws an arm around Bucky’s shoulders.

“Give me ten minutes to look at it and I can tell you whatever you want to know,” he says.

Howard leads them inside and as Steve follows behind Peggy and Edwin, Bucky looks over his shoulder to give Steve a reassuring smile.

Steve feels like he should be the one reassuring the others, but from the way Peggy also looks back at him, he wonders if maybe he’s showing his anxiety more than he thinks. He only hopes that this makeshift team’s got what it takes to save his past self before this time travel messes with him any more than it already has.


	8. Chapter 8

It takes a week and a half to get everything into place.

They’ve pieced together a general location of the plane crash, had Howard build some ice cutting technology and a stable cryotube of sorts to keep Steve’s past self’s body from going into shock, and Peggy’s commissioned a small jet from a friend of hers. 

Howard and Edwin are going to stay on the jet while Steve, Bucky, and Peggy take on the task of rescuing himself from the ice.

Steve’s spent enough time in the Captain America exhibit back in D.C. to know enough about how he was saved in his own timeline to be confident enough that they won’t mess this up.

If only this Bucky had that same confidence.

The night before they are set to leave New York, Steve finds Bucky sitting on a bench near the lake at Howard’s cabin. Idly, Steve wonders if Tony knew that his father had a cabin so similar to the one he’d made for Pepper and Morgan.

Bucky hears him approaching, but Steve can only tell by the sudden tension in his shoulders as Steve gets closer.

“You alright?” Steve asks. He sits next to Bucky, staring ahead at the reflection of the moon on the lake.

“Yeah,” Bucky replies.

He tosses the rock in his hand out onto the lake. He does it with too much force, and the rock sinks into the water rather than skipping across the surface.

Steve doesn’t look over to him.

“You sure?”

He hears Bucky sigh and finally turns to see that Bucky’s expression is somber. He’s got tears drying on his face and a deep frown. 

“I’m just…” Bucky groans and leans forward to put his face in his hands. “I can’t fucking believe that he-that  _ you _ , or whatever, crashed that plane.”

Steve’s not sure what to say.

He’s had this conversation with his Bucky, but that was wildly different. It’d been more than just a few years that had passed and they’d both changed as people, having done things they’d never dreamed or wanted to do.

This Bucky, with his memories mostly intact and only apart from his Steve for a few years, is not the Bucky that Steve had spent days arguing with. His Bucky had been angry, where this one was more...sad.

“Did he really not think he had anything left to live for?”

Bucky looks up at him and Steve slides closer, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“He...he didn’t much care, no. Not when he took all of the lives at stake into account. It was the easiest choice to sacrifice myself, himself, when compared with all of those innocent people.”

“That’s bullshit, Steve. Peggy told me! There were other options, he just didn’t even fucking listen to them. What kind of person does that? What kind of person just...just lets themselves  _ die? _ ”

Steve swallows and pulls his hand back. This Bucky doesn’t understand like his does.

“Look. I’m not going to answer for the Steve you’re waiting for. Because he’s a different person and he’ll give you a different answer.”

Bucky wipes at his eyes and nods, like he’d known that answer was coming.

“But...I will say that he wouldn’t have done it if he’d known you were out there somewhere.”

Bucky leans back. He tilts his head back, looking up towards the stars.

“Then let’s go fucking get him, because he needs to know. He needs to know.”

XXX

Steve always forgets how loud it is inside of a plane. Even a small jet like this one shakes and rattles enough to raise everyone’s voices. Sitting in the Arctic, with wind buffeting the sides of the jet, Steve can barely hear himself breathing.

Steve’s been told that he’s staying in the plane while Bucky, Peggy, and Howard carve their way into the ice. He’d argued, initially. But in the end, Peggy’s convinced him by explaining that on the off-chance that his past self woke up, it’d be less of a shock to see Bucky than to see an older version of himself.

Still, Steve hated waiting.

Howard and Edwin had landed the jet on a plane of thick ice a few hundred feet away from the extraction point. The longer they waited, the more nervous Steve got. What if this was a terrible decision? His body might not be ready to come out of the ice yet, what if his past self didn’t even make it and he’d just raised false hope?

Steve and Edwin sit at the back of the plane, huddling in their large coats, watching the faint sparks and blue lights from where the rest of their team are digging into the ice. 

“We’ll be here a while, it seems,” Edwin says, standing to shake his limbs out before moving back towards the front of the jet. “Might want to think about staying away from the windows. Too cold for me, I must admit.”

“I’ve been through worse,” Steve replies, resting his head against the side of the window beside him.

 

Steve doesn’t remember the ice. But his body remembers the cold.

Even now, years after waking up in New York, Steve will have mornings where his body doesn’t respond when his mind wakes up. In those moments, his limbs feel cold and numb and his thoughts are as thin as mist.

He hasn’t told anyone but Bucky and Sam about those mornings. How his body feels stiff and aches for hours. How he finds himself thinking of the plane crash all day. 

“Steve, we’ve reached him.” 

Peggy’s voice is fairly clear through the plane’s speaker. He can hear the sound of the rapid ice defroster that Howard had made running in the background. 

“We’re pulling him out in 3...2...1…”

Steve hears a thud and then the sounds of metal, probably Bucky maneuvering the cryotube. 

“Mission accomplished, team!” Howard says. 

Steve closes his eyes and listens as Peggy tells him that they’re heading back up out of the ice and to the jet. He breathes in the cold air of the Arctic and hates how it somehow feels so familiar. 

He can only hope that things are different for this past version of him. 


	9. Chapter 9

Steve can hear Natasha’s voice in his head.    


“Don’t make contact with yourself in the past. Who knows what path you might send yourself on, knowing what happens in the future. It’s just not a good idea.”

Steve’s fairly sure that he’s already changed things for his past self without having even talked to him. But he’s following Natasha’s advice as much as possible.

Past Steve has been awake for a day and a half, and Steve has refused to see him. This has garnered Peggy’s praise and Bucky’s disapproval. 

“I honestly think it’d be better if I didn't talk to him,” Steve says.

He’s sitting on the edge of Peggy’s couch, which has been his new bed for the past few nights because Past Steve has taken over the guest room. 

“I thought you needed him to know everything, for your plan in the future to work.”

Bucky pulls at the threads of one of the throw pillows, frowning when Peggy reaches over to pull it away from him.

“I believe Steve is hoping we’ll explain it to him later, am I right?” she asks. 

Steve shrugs, but nods.

“That would be helpful, yeah.”

Bucky shakes his head, “I really don’t think avoiding him is going to make that much of a difference. He deserves to know. I mean, he hasn’t...fully woken up yet, so now would probably be your best chance.”

Steve does agree with that. 

His past self has been awake, but not active. His body is still recovering from the ice, not having the 21st century technology to help him get rehabilitated quicker. He’s been able to speak and can move, but not quickly. It reminds Steve of something thawing out, and it worries him. He remembers waking up in New York and running out on the streets, his body feeling none of the ache that his Past self now has to deal with.

And just like that, his mind is changed.

“Okay,” Steve says, “I’ll talk to him.”

XXX

After helping to clean up from dinner that evening, Steve goes to speak to his Past self.

Past Steve is sitting up in bed, blankets pooled around his waist, reading a book.

To the outside eye, he looks totally at peace. To Steve, though, he looks tightly wound. He remembers those days all too well.

“Bucky told me that you didn’t want to talk,” Past Steve says as he puts his book down. 

Steve winces and sits in the chair beside the bed.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to.”

“You just didn’t think it would be a good idea.”

“Right.”

Steve looks his Past self over, taking in the hands resting together on his lap, the clenched jaw, the tight shoulders. He’s every bit the soldier that Steve has been stepping away from for years.

“You don’t look happy,” Steve says, finally.

Past Steve shakes his head and frowns.

“No, it’s not that. It’s just...I never expected this, you know? I was ready to..to never see Peggy again. And I thought I’d already  _ lost _ Bucky, and God...So many things have changed so quickly and I just feel like I’ve been given this second chance that I absolutely do not deserve.”

“I know how you feel,” Steve replies.

“No, really,” he adds, before his past self can cut him off. “I may have woken up a lot later than you did, but I still had that feeling. Sometimes, I still fall back into that place.”

Past Steve looks at him, eyes poring into his with a seriousness that should be bothersome, but it’s not. It’s himself, after all.

“I’m not sure if that should make me feel better, or worse,” Past Steve says. 

“I don’t know, either,” Steve agrees, “But I do know that things will be different for you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“You’ve got them.” Steve gestures to the hallway, where he’s sure Peggy and Bucky are waiting for him.

Past Steve’s face softens before he frowns at Steve.

“You didn’t? I thought…you and Bucky in the future...”

Steve shrugs, “What can I say, it’s a long story.”

There’s a moment of calm silence before Past Steve adjusts his position in bed and picks up a notebook and pen off of the nightstand. 

“Well, lucky for us, I’ve got plenty of time.”

XXX

When Steve emerges from the guest bedroom, he’s red-eyed, exhausted, and more determined than ever to get back to the future to put his plan into action. He expects to find Peggy and Bucky huddled in the hallway, some sort of remix of just a few weeks ago, when Peggy’d had to break the news to Bucky. Instead, the hallway is empty. 

He finds Peggy and Bucky asleep on opposite ends of the couch. Their legs tangle in the middle and Steve finds himself standing above them, heart full and aching.

His past self had taken everything better than he’d anticipated. 

“I’m not going to waste this,” Past Steve had said, just before Steve had left the room. “I know that I’m lucky. But hearing about how my life could have gone...I won’t let you down. I won’t let myself down.”

Now, Steve just has to keep that same promise. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of the main story, folks! There'll be an epilogue coming soon, which I think you all will like. I'm so glad that so many people have enjoyed this little adventure of mine, I appreciate you all!

It’s time for Steve to leave.

He’s spent the past few days helping his past self recover and regain some strength. He and Bucky have talked about meditation techniques and PTSD. Peggy’s been grilling him on Hydra day in and day out while also making arrangements for a place to stay for Past Steve and Bucky.

But Peggy’s husband is coming home soon, Steve’s past self seems in relatively stable condition, Howard is quietly funding a modest account for their eventual defeat of Hydra. Everything is moving towards something like normal. Which means Steve has no more excuses to stay.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to go back to the future. He really, really does. Steve just can’t help feeling guilty about leaving his new/old friends here in the past to deal with everything on their own. 

“We’ll be fine,” Past Steve tells him. They sit side by side on Peggy’s back porch. Steve’s leaving in the afternoon and he knows that he won’t have a moment to himself before he does. He likes it that way.

“I know you will be,” Steve replies. “I just hate leaving you all behind.”

Steve feels a hand on his shoulder and looks up to see Peggy standing behind him. He smiles up at her and places his hand on hers.

“You’re not leaving anyone behind, Steve. This is our world now, not yours.”

The door behind them opens and closes and Bucky moves to Past Steve’s side. Steve wonders if he and his Bucky have always been as obvious as these two.

“I second anything Agent Carter’s said,” Bucky says, resting his head on Past Steve’s shoulder. “I’m learning that she’s always right.”

Peggy shakes her head and squeezes Steve’s hand before sitting down beside him.

They make a strange group, sitting out here in the morning sunshine, the neighborhood making noise around them. 

“Don’t feel guilty about any of it,” Past Steve says eventually. “I may be your past, but you’re not my future, remember?”

Steve remembers.

XXX

The plan is for Past Steve to wait, live his life, and then travel into Steve’s timeline at about the same time that Steve originally left with the Infinity Stones. He’s going to pass his shield over to Sam, allude to a life well lived, and then get back to his own timeline. There’s a lot that could go wrong. They’re trusting Howard (and possibly Tony, but Steve doesn’t share that) to create a way in the next few decades to cross from one timeline to the next. They’re trusting Peggy to take down Hydra with less chaos than Steve did. They’re trusting Past Steve and Bucky to live long enough for this plan to happen at all.

A lot could go wrong. 

But Steve has faith.

XXX

When Steve re-enters his timeline, he discovers that he’s come back two weeks later than he’d planned. He appears by the lake exactly where he’d left with the Stones, but he lands on hard dirt and fallen leaves. There’s no equipment out here like there was when he’d gone.

He doesn’t think much of it at first, but when he enters the compound and Wanda drops her glass, he figures that something didn’t go right.

“Steve? Is it really you?”

After letting Wanda into his mind to convince her that he isn’t an imposter, Steve learns that he’s come back too late. His Past self had done exactly what they’d planned and now everyone is convinced that Steve had gone and found himself a new life in the past. Shit.

“Where’s Bucky?” Steve asks.

Wanda winces.

“He...He didn’t take your absence very well. He’s back in Wakanda now, with T’Challa.”

Steve rubs a hand over his face, inwardly groaning. 

He has to get to Wakanda.

  
  


He leaves as soon as he can get a jet. He somehow manages to get out of the compound without having to sit and give a mission report to Bruce, or Rhodey, or whoever there is to even talk to about that anymore, but he does take a second to leave a note for Sam. Steve has a lot to explain.

He only hopes that Bucky will give him a chance to do it.

  
  


The sun is setting as Steve approaches Bucky’s farm.

The Wakandan sunset is the most beautiful he’s ever seen, but Steve doesn’t appreciate it as he usually does. His palms are sweating as he reaches to push Bucky’s door open.

“Buck?”

Steve glances around the hut, listening for any sounds. When he doesn’t hear any, he sighs and steps back outside, closing the door behind him.

“Steve?”

The voice comes from his right and Steve turns quickly.

Bucky stands in the field, frozen midstep. Three goats stand around him, but they walk away as Steve strides over. He takes in Bucky’s wide eyes and halted posture. Does he trust Steve that little?

“I can’t believe you thought I’d leave you like that, Buck.”

Steve pulls Bucky closer by his tunic and wraps his arms around Bucky’s shoulders. He holds him tight and digs his fingers into the muscles of his back. The Bucky of the past had been so, so different than this Bucky who Steve has fought, and lied, and stolen for. Breathing him in, Steve is certain that what he’s done is right.

“Steve, I...What’s going on here? They said...I  _ saw  _ you with Sam, at the lake. You were an old man!”

Steve grins and pushes his nose into Bucky’s neck.

“I’m already an old man.”

Bucky shoves him backwards, hard, catching Steve’s arm with his metal hand before Steve falls over.

“Well,  _ that _ you was pretty clear that you’d gone and lived your life in the past.  _ That _ you gave the shield over to Sam and made us all believe that your time with us was done.”

Steve steadies himself by reaching out to hold Bucky’s shoulder. 

“It’s a long, long story, but that Steve was from another place. Another time, actually.”

Steve sees the doubt in Bucky’s eyes. It hurts to see, but Steve understands. They’ve gone through so much that a happy ending seems almost impossible by now. 

“I’m here,” Steve tells him. “Forever. And believe me when I say that I didn’t mean to leave you that long. I never will again.” 

Bucky stares at him, eyes narrowed in thought. Steve’s breath catches and he briefly wonders just what he’ll do if Bucky decides not to trust him.

“A long story, huh?”

Steve lets out his breath. 

“Definitely long, but I think you’ll like it. It’s got time travel, adventure, reunions, and hopefully a happy ending.”

Bucky nods and takes Steve’s hand in his. 

“Alright, then. Let’s get inside so you can start telling me this long story of yours. You know I’m a sucker for a happy ending.”

Steve grins, “Then you’ll sure love this one.” 


	11. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so, so much for coming along on this journey of Steve’s and mine. I wanted to write this to get the gnawing feeling of “this isn’t right” out of my head after Endgame, but it turned into a lot more. I appreciate all of the kudos and comments, you are all amazing!

New York City, 2012

Steve is wholly unprepared for this.

When he’d woken up from his fight with himself last month, he’d thought it had been Loki. The whole “Gods are real and magic is a weapon” thing is still fairly new to him, and there had been no other explanation as to how a clone of himself had been there to fight him. 

Until Tony had reviewed the security footage from the lobby and seen his own clone.

Which, after several meetings and presentations, was determined to be time travel.

So now Steve has to get used to “Gods are real, magic is a weapon,  _ and _ time travel exists” as just how his life is now.

Still, that puts his fight with himself into a whole new light.

“Bucky is alive,” is what his future-self had said. And he could trust his future-self to tell him the truth...right? Which means that somehow, somewhere, Bucky was out there. Whether he had aged, and how he had survived remains a mystery, but Steve was determined to figure it out.

He’d barely started digging into it when Rumlow had approached him in an elevator at SHIELD’s New York headquarters. 

“Hail Hydra,” he’d said, right before nudging Steve with his elbow and hitting the elevator keys in a strategic pattern. “Can’t believe I didn’t see this coming.”

Steve had stood frozen, completely shocked. Gods are real, magic is a weapon, time travel exists, and Hydra is alive and well? His world had tilted on its axis far too many times for one person.

Steve stood silent as the elevator descended past the basement levels of the building. When the doors opened, it revealed a giant, dark laboratory. 

“C’mon,” Rumlow said, gesturing for Steve to follow him down a hallway.

“I’m sure you know about this,” he said as they approached a door. “Wanted to see how you feel about it myself, though.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve had asked.

Rumlow pushed the door open and Steve had suddenly been face to face with Bucky.

Bucky, frozen behind a sheet of glass in some sort of tube, looked exactly the same age he’d been when Steve had watched him fall from the train. 

Steve listened to Rumlow rant about how the Winter Soldier,  _ Bucky _ , was being underutilized, with a straight face. He made no indication to the fear and shock and wonder that he’d been feeling as he stared at Bucky. He spoke very little as they rode the elevator back up to the main levels. 

“Well, see you around, Cap,” Rumlow said before leaving Steve in the lobby.

“See you,” Steve replied.

Now, Steve’s sitting in his new room in Stark’s new “Avengers” wing of his tower, contemplating just how he’s going to break Bucky out. He’s got to get more information, that he knows, but Steve doesn’t think he should wait too long. Who knows what kind of torture Bucky is experiencing in this new time of theirs.

Steve contemplates letting the rest of the team in on this secret, but there’s too much going on. Tony’s rebuilding the tower, Bruce is working with SHIELD on new technology, Clint and Thor are both gone… But, there is Natasha.

Steve pulls out the cell phone that Tony had given him. He dials Natasha’s number and grins when she picks it up on the first ring.

“Steve? What’s going on?”

“Hey, Natasha. I need some help. What do you know about the Winter Soldier?”

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me at Dreamformetoo on tumblr!


End file.
